Dirk-Jan Koch
Biographic Data
| ID | 1401200 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dirk-Jan Koch |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dirk-Jan |
| FAMILY NAME | Koch |
| SIGNATURE | KOCH D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Radboud University Nijmegen |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3996-2878 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 53 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 24 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Blind Spots of Aid Evaluation
This study examines why some evaluation agencies and departments of bilateral aid donors report more unintended effects than others. It does so by analysing Belgian, Dutch and German evaluation practices. Using a comparative political economy approach, it evaluates the rigour and independence vis‐à‐vis implementers of their systems. Findings show that evaluation systems designed to actively detect unintended effects do identify more of them. Depa…
Towards a critical development perspective on intercountry adoptions
Intercountry adoption (ICA) has affected children in developing countries over the last 60 years and has been debated extensively in the academic literature since the 1970s. However, it remains largely undebated in the development studies literature. To enable a discussion, this paper proposes applying a critical development studies lens to study ICA. First, by using an actor-oriented approach, the traditional ‘adoption triad’ is expanded into an…
Analysis of the possible pathways between social and well-being outcomes
Among this group of participants, we found no quantitative and limited qualitative evidence that improvements in well-being led to improved social outcomes, or vice versa. We consider how methodological limitations (i.e. our sample size and limited number of survey items) may have influenced our results, and contextual and temporal explanations for the lack of evidence of pathways. This finding stands in contrast with the theories of change of ma…
Progress and pitfalls when evaluating the unintended effects of public policy
The study of unintended effects of policies is a key debate among evaluation scholars. Through complexity theory, we argue that unintended effects of (international) public actions are inevitable and question the reliability of evaluations in providing a correct and complete picture of public policy. We use a machine-learning-assisted text-mining case study approach, examining 254 programme evaluations of German international development cooperat…
Resources or race? Explaining (un)equality in international development partnerships
Contains fulltext : 315564.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)
Aid Unchained
By analysing a comparative case study investigating a development project implemented in Uganda and Vietnam, the article aims to understand how donor directives travel and translate into actual practices in aid chains. Making use of Norman Long’s concept of the interface, we focus on the interfaces between organizations to examine the negotiation of everyday project practices. Based on practice theory, our analysis unpacks how directives are filt…
How to care for carers
While mental health and psychosocial support receive substantial international attention in humanitarian aid, the well-being of local aid agency staff themselves is often overlooked. This research, using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design composed of two rounds of interviews (N = 23) and a survey (N = 146), highlights the constraints that local staff encounter to access psychosocial support. The study presents a snapshot of what menta…
Understanding and addressing the unintended effects of aid localisation
Aid localisation is a decades-old endeavour recently catalysed by the 2016 Grand Bargain agreement.However, localisation's unintended effects have yet to be assessed systematically.This study typologises five unintended effects in the context of Cordaid's partnerships within the Just Future program: competition, administration, value, civic space, and climate effects.Through literature reviews and 15 key informant interviews, it finds most freque…
Civil society organizations and managerialism
A review of the unintended gender effects of international development efforts
There is widespread recognition among scholars, international aid providers and evaluators of the need to take into account the unintended outcomes of international development efforts. Practitioners have also signed on to charters that promise they will do their utmost best to ‘do no harm’. This article focusses on the often overlooked unintended gender effects. A rigorous literature review was conducted to reveal some of the most prominent unin…
The Well-Being of Undocumented Migrants in The Netherlands
In this contribution we will shed light on how individual and social post-migration factors affect the well-being of undocumented migrants. Using retrospective interviews, this study involves undocumented migrants who live in the Netherlands and have received psychosocial support. The stories of these undocumented migrants demonstrate that individual and social post-migration factors (such as health and social contacts) are closely entangled. The…
What happens to aid fungibility when the recipient government takes control? Effects of aid ownership in Rwanda
The social outcomes of psychosocial support
Policymakers, practitioners and academics expect mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions to have social outcomes. Surprisingly, the existing academic literature on the effectiveness of MHPSS has focused almost exclusively on clinical outcomes. The evidence base of MHPSS interventions is in that way limited. To feed the research agenda on MHPSS (i.e., MHPSS-SET2), this scoping review analyses the presence and understanding of …
The generational status quo explained
According to ‘generational’ thinking, traditional, non-participatory service-delivery oriented organisations are expected to gradually evolve into participatory organisations aiming for structural change. Strikingly, it appears that this conventional wisdom has never been tested rigorously. This research seeks to help address this gap, employing a unique longitudinal study design, tracing the evolution of Dutch small-scale development initiatives…
Learning in migration management? Persistent side effects of the Eutf
This study contributes to the existing literature on the unintended effects of migration management programmes beyond migration. By combining a structured literature review with fifteen in‐depth interviews with diplomats, consultants, and researchers – all involved with the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), the largest migration management programme since 2015 – this study examines why policymakers do not always learn from un…
Informalisation of international volunteering
Over the past years, there has been increasing public criticism of international volunteering. Yet, the academic literature has so far given limited insight into the diversity of this complex and ‘liquid’ field. To fill this gap, this article develops a taxonomy of volunteering providers with different goals and behaviours. The value of this new taxonomy is illustrated by applying the analytical framework to ‘orphanage tourism’ in the Netherlands…
Long-Lasting, But Not Transformative. An Ex-post Sustainability Study of Development Interventions of Private Development Initiatives
This article presents the results of the first ex-post sustainability study among 93 development interventions implemented between 1990 and 2008 in Kenya, India, South Africa, and Ghana. The interventions were undertaken by 42 different local organisations with support from an equal number of Dutch small-scale, voluntary development organisations. We find that a large number of interventions still achieve the intended output and outcome results. …
The Differential Impact of the Covid-19 Crisis on Small-Scale Development Initiatives, a Cross-Country Comparison
The COVID-19 pandemic presents Northern-based development organisations with unprecedented difficulties. They are challenged in fundraising opportunities in their home countries and in finding ways to continue their work in the Global South. As the first study to present a systematic mixed method, cross-country study of small-scale, voluntary development organisations in four different European countries, this study provides insight into the role…
Why fungibility of development aid can be good news
This study investigates the link between fungibility and international aid effectiveness by combining quantitative and qualitative methods; using state-of-the-art statistical analysis with in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, it provides deeper insights into fungibility and its drivers. It uses a different starting point than most studies on fungibility, namely that fungibility might actually be quite positive to achieve Sustainable Develop…
Limits to learning
This article pioneers new thinking on learning by organizations created by international environmental agreements, especially the boundaries within which learning can take place. It hypothesizes that there are ideological, institutional and technical boundaries to learning, which negatively impact the effectiveness of international environmental programming. This theory is rigorously tested by applying it to a group of new programmes, the forest-…
Is it time to ‘decolonise’ the fungibility debate
Recent literature has established that development assistance is often fungible and that this is undesirable. In line with current efforts to ‘decolonise development studies’, we critically reflect on the underlying assumptions of this line of thinking. We establish a framework that differentiates between potential positive and negative fungibility. We hypothesise that recipient governments can redirect their own funds and achieve positive fungib…
Bounded policy learning? EU efforts to anticipate unintended consequences in conflict minerals legislation
Inspired by the emerging literature on unintended consequences of EU external action, this article studies how the anticipation of negative unintended consequences factors into EU policy-making. Using policy learning analytical lens, case study research strategy and process-tracing method, this article examines EU policy-making on conflict minerals: when respective EU policy was drafted, the negative unintended consequences of the earlier US conf…
Keeping a Low Profile
Does Marketisation of Aid Reduce the Country-level Poverty Targeting of Private Aid Agencies
Keeping a Low Profile
Bounded policy learning? EU efforts to anticipate unintended consequences in conflict minerals legislation
Inspired by the emerging literature on unintended consequences of EU external action, this article studies how the anticipation of negative unintended consequences factors into EU policy-making. Using policy learning analytical lens, case study research strategy and process-tracing method, this article examines EU policy-making on conflict minerals: when respective EU policy was drafted, the negative unintended consequences of the earlier US conf…
Understanding and addressing the unintended effects of aid localisation
Aid localisation is a decades-old endeavour recently catalysed by the 2016 Grand Bargain agreement.However, localisation's unintended effects have yet to be assessed systematically.This study typologises five unintended effects in the context of Cordaid's partnerships within the Just Future program: competition, administration, value, civic space, and climate effects.Through literature reviews and 15 key informant interviews, it finds most freque…
The Differential Impact of the Covid-19 Crisis on Small-Scale Development Initiatives, a Cross-Country Comparison
The COVID-19 pandemic presents Northern-based development organisations with unprecedented difficulties. They are challenged in fundraising opportunities in their home countries and in finding ways to continue their work in the Global South. As the first study to present a systematic mixed method, cross-country study of small-scale, voluntary development organisations in four different European countries, this study provides insight into the role…
The Well-Being of Undocumented Migrants in The Netherlands
In this contribution we will shed light on how individual and social post-migration factors affect the well-being of undocumented migrants. Using retrospective interviews, this study involves undocumented migrants who live in the Netherlands and have received psychosocial support. The stories of these undocumented migrants demonstrate that individual and social post-migration factors (such as health and social contacts) are closely entangled. The…
Learning in migration management? Persistent side effects of the Eutf
This study contributes to the existing literature on the unintended effects of migration management programmes beyond migration. By combining a structured literature review with fifteen in‐depth interviews with diplomats, consultants, and researchers – all involved with the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), the largest migration management programme since 2015 – this study examines why policymakers do not always learn from un…
Long-Lasting, But Not Transformative. An Ex-post Sustainability Study of Development Interventions of Private Development Initiatives
This article presents the results of the first ex-post sustainability study among 93 development interventions implemented between 1990 and 2008 in Kenya, India, South Africa, and Ghana. The interventions were undertaken by 42 different local organisations with support from an equal number of Dutch small-scale, voluntary development organisations. We find that a large number of interventions still achieve the intended output and outcome results. …
The generational status quo explained
According to ‘generational’ thinking, traditional, non-participatory service-delivery oriented organisations are expected to gradually evolve into participatory organisations aiming for structural change. Strikingly, it appears that this conventional wisdom has never been tested rigorously. This research seeks to help address this gap, employing a unique longitudinal study design, tracing the evolution of Dutch small-scale development initiatives…
Is it time to ‘decolonise’ the fungibility debate
Recent literature has established that development assistance is often fungible and that this is undesirable. In line with current efforts to ‘decolonise development studies’, we critically reflect on the underlying assumptions of this line of thinking. We establish a framework that differentiates between potential positive and negative fungibility. We hypothesise that recipient governments can redirect their own funds and achieve positive fungib…
Does Marketisation of Aid Reduce the Country-level Poverty Targeting of Private Aid Agencies
Does Marketisation of Aid Reduce the Country-level Poverty Targeting of Private Aid Agencies
Keeping a Low Profile
Why fungibility of development aid can be good news
This study investigates the link between fungibility and international aid effectiveness by combining quantitative and qualitative methods; using state-of-the-art statistical analysis with in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, it provides deeper insights into fungibility and its drivers. It uses a different starting point than most studies on fungibility, namely that fungibility might actually be quite positive to achieve Sustainable Develop…
Limits to learning
This article pioneers new thinking on learning by organizations created by international environmental agreements, especially the boundaries within which learning can take place. It hypothesizes that there are ideological, institutional and technical boundaries to learning, which negatively impact the effectiveness of international environmental programming. This theory is rigorously tested by applying it to a group of new programmes, the forest-…
Is it time to ‘decolonise’ the fungibility debate
Recent literature has established that development assistance is often fungible and that this is undesirable. In line with current efforts to ‘decolonise development studies’, we critically reflect on the underlying assumptions of this line of thinking. We establish a framework that differentiates between potential positive and negative fungibility. We hypothesise that recipient governments can redirect their own funds and achieve positive fungib…
Bounded policy learning? EU efforts to anticipate unintended consequences in conflict minerals legislation
Inspired by the emerging literature on unintended consequences of EU external action, this article studies how the anticipation of negative unintended consequences factors into EU policy-making. Using policy learning analytical lens, case study research strategy and process-tracing method, this article examines EU policy-making on conflict minerals: when respective EU policy was drafted, the negative unintended consequences of the earlier US conf…
Informalisation of international volunteering
Over the past years, there has been increasing public criticism of international volunteering. Yet, the academic literature has so far given limited insight into the diversity of this complex and ‘liquid’ field. To fill this gap, this article develops a taxonomy of volunteering providers with different goals and behaviours. The value of this new taxonomy is illustrated by applying the analytical framework to ‘orphanage tourism’ in the Netherlands…
Long-Lasting, But Not Transformative. An Ex-post Sustainability Study of Development Interventions of Private Development Initiatives
This article presents the results of the first ex-post sustainability study among 93 development interventions implemented between 1990 and 2008 in Kenya, India, South Africa, and Ghana. The interventions were undertaken by 42 different local organisations with support from an equal number of Dutch small-scale, voluntary development organisations. We find that a large number of interventions still achieve the intended output and outcome results. …
The Differential Impact of the Covid-19 Crisis on Small-Scale Development Initiatives, a Cross-Country Comparison
The COVID-19 pandemic presents Northern-based development organisations with unprecedented difficulties. They are challenged in fundraising opportunities in their home countries and in finding ways to continue their work in the Global South. As the first study to present a systematic mixed method, cross-country study of small-scale, voluntary development organisations in four different European countries, this study provides insight into the role…
What happens to aid fungibility when the recipient government takes control? Effects of aid ownership in Rwanda
The social outcomes of psychosocial support
Policymakers, practitioners and academics expect mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions to have social outcomes. Surprisingly, the existing academic literature on the effectiveness of MHPSS has focused almost exclusively on clinical outcomes. The evidence base of MHPSS interventions is in that way limited. To feed the research agenda on MHPSS (i.e., MHPSS-SET2), this scoping review analyses the presence and understanding of …
The generational status quo explained
According to ‘generational’ thinking, traditional, non-participatory service-delivery oriented organisations are expected to gradually evolve into participatory organisations aiming for structural change. Strikingly, it appears that this conventional wisdom has never been tested rigorously. This research seeks to help address this gap, employing a unique longitudinal study design, tracing the evolution of Dutch small-scale development initiatives…
Learning in migration management? Persistent side effects of the Eutf
This study contributes to the existing literature on the unintended effects of migration management programmes beyond migration. By combining a structured literature review with fifteen in‐depth interviews with diplomats, consultants, and researchers – all involved with the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), the largest migration management programme since 2015 – this study examines why policymakers do not always learn from un…
Civil society organizations and managerialism
A review of the unintended gender effects of international development efforts
There is widespread recognition among scholars, international aid providers and evaluators of the need to take into account the unintended outcomes of international development efforts. Practitioners have also signed on to charters that promise they will do their utmost best to ‘do no harm’. This article focusses on the often overlooked unintended gender effects. A rigorous literature review was conducted to reveal some of the most prominent unin…
The Well-Being of Undocumented Migrants in The Netherlands
In this contribution we will shed light on how individual and social post-migration factors affect the well-being of undocumented migrants. Using retrospective interviews, this study involves undocumented migrants who live in the Netherlands and have received psychosocial support. The stories of these undocumented migrants demonstrate that individual and social post-migration factors (such as health and social contacts) are closely entangled. The…
Aid Unchained
By analysing a comparative case study investigating a development project implemented in Uganda and Vietnam, the article aims to understand how donor directives travel and translate into actual practices in aid chains. Making use of Norman Long’s concept of the interface, we focus on the interfaces between organizations to examine the negotiation of everyday project practices. Based on practice theory, our analysis unpacks how directives are filt…
How to care for carers
While mental health and psychosocial support receive substantial international attention in humanitarian aid, the well-being of local aid agency staff themselves is often overlooked. This research, using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design composed of two rounds of interviews (N = 23) and a survey (N = 146), highlights the constraints that local staff encounter to access psychosocial support. The study presents a snapshot of what menta…
Understanding and addressing the unintended effects of aid localisation
Aid localisation is a decades-old endeavour recently catalysed by the 2016 Grand Bargain agreement.However, localisation's unintended effects have yet to be assessed systematically.This study typologises five unintended effects in the context of Cordaid's partnerships within the Just Future program: competition, administration, value, civic space, and climate effects.Through literature reviews and 15 key informant interviews, it finds most freque…
Towards a critical development perspective on intercountry adoptions
Intercountry adoption (ICA) has affected children in developing countries over the last 60 years and has been debated extensively in the academic literature since the 1970s. However, it remains largely undebated in the development studies literature. To enable a discussion, this paper proposes applying a critical development studies lens to study ICA. First, by using an actor-oriented approach, the traditional ‘adoption triad’ is expanded into an…
Analysis of the possible pathways between social and well-being outcomes
Among this group of participants, we found no quantitative and limited qualitative evidence that improvements in well-being led to improved social outcomes, or vice versa. We consider how methodological limitations (i.e. our sample size and limited number of survey items) may have influenced our results, and contextual and temporal explanations for the lack of evidence of pathways. This finding stands in contrast with the theories of change of ma…
Progress and pitfalls when evaluating the unintended effects of public policy
The study of unintended effects of policies is a key debate among evaluation scholars. Through complexity theory, we argue that unintended effects of (international) public actions are inevitable and question the reliability of evaluations in providing a correct and complete picture of public policy. We use a machine-learning-assisted text-mining case study approach, examining 254 programme evaluations of German international development cooperat…
Resources or race? Explaining (un)equality in international development partnerships
Contains fulltext : 315564.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)
The Blind Spots of Aid Evaluation
This study examines why some evaluation agencies and departments of bilateral aid donors report more unintended effects than others. It does so by analysing Belgian, Dutch and German evaluation practices. Using a comparative political economy approach, it evaluates the rigour and independence vis‐à‐vis implementers of their systems. Findings show that evaluation systems designed to actively detect unintended effects do identify more of them. Depa…
Political science (21 works) · International Development and Aid (15 works) · Economics (13 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Business (8 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Development economics (7 works) · Economic growth (7 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (7 works)